A high profile Birmingham regeneration scheme that faltered as the economy collapsed has been given fresh hope after landowners submitted new plans and the Government pledged funds to kickstart stalled projects.
The 22.5-hectare Icknield Port Loop site is currently owned by British Waterways, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Birmingham City Council, which want to create a new canalside district including 1,150 homes, shops, a landmark ten-storey hotel, park and playground and a pub.
The area was identified in the Big City Plan as a key regeneration area when Advantage West Midlands tried to sell its holding and launched a competition to find a developer, but the process stalled due to the recession and the holding has since been passed to the HCA.
The site in Edgbaston includes various industrial premises, the majority of which are vacant and the site of the Ladywood Arts and Leisure Centre.
According to a presentation to the city council’s planning committee by Peter Weatherhead of planning agents DTZ, the aspiration is that family homes will be designed in three waves and densities, with two and three-storey family homes on the arts centre area rising to an eight-storey apartment block at the centre of the development.
The Icknield Island and Wiggin Street area would see “innovative” medium density terraced housing, including the possible return of back-to-back housing to Birmingham.
The former Tube Works on the corner of Rotten Park Street and Icknield Port Road, will be retained and redeveloped and a former stables block on Rotten Park Street will be turned into a community building.
But the application suggests that an attractive Art Deco 1932 garage is in such a poor state of repair that it should be demolished.
Mr Weatherhead said that the site had been awaiting development for almost a decade.
“This proposal will create a sustainable urban neighbourhood and place where families will want to live. The community wants something to happen and should we receive planning permission the developer will be able to deliver that vision,” he said.
As well as the new planning application, the project has been given a further boost after the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) successfully applied for a £15m grant from the Government to support infrastructure in projects which support homes, jobs and growth as part of its Growing Places initiative.